Scores of killings by the RUC police in the North may not be
properly investigated due to a lack of resources at the Police
Ombudsman’s office, it has emerged.

It has emerged that cases involving the RUC will not be
investigated by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which has
begun examining 100 unsolved killings.

All cases involving the police and dating from before 1998 have
instead been handed to Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s office. Human
rights groups have now called for the British government to pour
resources into the office so that an investigating team can begin
its work.

British officials have confirmed that negotiations over the money
needed to revisit the police cases are ongoing.

Originally it had been thought that up to 48 deaths involving the
RUC before 1998 would be handled by Ms O’Loan’s office. However,
it is now understood that the total number of cases could rise
above that.

Ms O’Loan has already gone on record as stating that the extra
caseload arising from the investigation of disputed killings
involving RUC officers would mean a substantial drain on already
stretched resources.

“I don’t know how many there are yet,” she said in November. “I
think it could double [the existing historical cases total].”

Human rights activist Paul O’Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre
has accused the British government of blocking progress towards
reopening the cases.

He suggested that “dirty tricks” could be scuppering the
reinvestigation of these controversial deaths.

“What we are left with now is a totally ridiculous situation
whereby someone who was killed by the UVF in July 1969 will have
their death investigated, but someone who was killed by the RUC
in July 1969 must continue to wait for the funding to be made
available to get their answers.”

Mr. O’Connor said it was the opinion of the Pat Finucane Centre
that, by not releasing the necessary funds to allow the
Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, to investigate such cases, the British
government is “guilty of non cooperation” with ongoing
investigations.

“As far as we are concerned, everything that can be done to block
such investigations is being done.”

Sinn Féin spokesperson Raymond McCartney has also voiced his
concerns over the investigations process, saying it is “hamstrung
before it even started”.